A former construction worker who was badly injured in a 2012 workplace accident that killed his coworker and friend might have finally found the justice he was looking for.
For nearly two years, Thomas Richer has been demanding ‘Justice for Jeff’ after his friend Jeff Caron was killed while the two men were laying pipe in a trench at a Burnaby worksite.
On Oct. 11, 2012, the retaining wall next to the trench fell down, crushing Caron and striking Richer. Both men were taken to hospital, but Caron did not survive his injuries.
WorkSafeBC has since handed over the investigation to the B.C. RCMP to determine whether or not criminal charges are warranted.
When the NOW spoke with Richer on Thursday, he was still “taking it all in.”
“It makes me feel really good,” he said. “Now if the RCMP do their job and Liberal government do their job, maybe we can get change for the Canadian workers that are seriously injured or killed on the job.”
Richer has invested a lot of time into this cause and hopes a criminal investigation will make companies think twice about worker safety.
“If you start giving them years in jail like they would do with anybody else who was not above the law then the guy thinks twice after he gets out of prison,” he said.
The issue of worker safety is one that touches people across the country, Richer added, and he hopes this investigation will help bring change for workers all across Canada.
Meanwhile, the criminal investigation into Caron’s death will continue here in the Lower Mainland.
“WorkSafeBC has referred its investigation to the RCMP,” Megan Johnston, communications officer with WorkSafeBC, told the NOW.
Johnston added that this is an unusual situation for WorkSafeBC and something they haven’t done often.
According to the WorkSafeBC investigation report into the 2012 worksite fatality, obtained by the NOWin March, both the City of Burnaby and the contractor, J. Cote & Son Excavating Ltd., were held responsible for the accident that claimed Caron’s life, along with an engineering firm that conducted the survey of the site.
Neither Burnaby Mayor Derek Corrigan nor the RCMP could be reached by press deadline.
